Mentor's Honor, Student's Dream, Heir's Purpose
by Circle of Phoenix
Summary: -Angeal centric- Gift Fic for IWNBAoD. Support is just as necessary as the one carrying the burdens. Angeal bears witness to the legacy of his honor.


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy Seven… disclaimer in context and levity I don't own it. The creator does. I don't want to profit from it. The creator does. I really don't give a credit that isn't deserved. The creator… I guess he/they deserve it.

A/N: For my BETA: I Will Not Bow Angels of Dark. She has some seriously good fics out there that should be read. After all, my fics wouldn't be half of what they are without her input and support. So, thanks, Beta-chan, for all your help.

A sob destroyed the gathering peace he was feeling. Bleakly, eyes turned towards the future of the human race and a thought impinged on his last moments.

"Zack,"

"Yeah?" his student answered him.

"Do you remember what it means to hold onto honor?"

The boy… no, he was a man now, wasn't he?… gave him a forlorn look of question. "Yeah."

"And do you remember your dreams?"

"Of course."

"Good. Embrace them, never let them go, and always remember that…" His breath shuddered in his lungs and his last words became lost. Perhaps, he would hear them when it was his turn to come to the life stream.

"I'll be seeing you, Puppy."

"Huh, Angeal…?" The rest of what the Puppy was saying was lost to the silence of the Promised Land.

(Break)

Something pulled on him in the timeless expanse of the Promised Land, bringing him away from his mother and drawing his attention long since departed from the living world. The scent of copper stung long unused senses as the former Soldier became witness to a battlefield. Bodies were flung in all directions, his eyes trailing to the center of the destruction and found laying in a pool of his own blood his student.

Zack's chest still heaved, the breath trembling in weakened spasms as he whispered to the hovering form over his body. A hand reached limply out and the Puppy gave into trust everything that was precious too him. That same hand pushed lightly on the blonde-haired person's shoulder a smile reaching out for him despite the loss of his own life.

Emotions long unfelt tugged at Angeal's unused heart strings and when t came time, he reached out his hand to tug Zack home. Even as he entered, the Lifestream Angeal felt something missing.

The other's head had turned back to watch his friend bid him goodbye and a tearful irony revealed itself.

"I never have liked saying goodbye.," he whispered to his mentor and shouldered the Buster's mirror twin on his shoulder. "Wish I could stay and chat, Angeal, but there's something I've gotta do first. Say hello to your mom for me if you see her."

"Zack, where are you going?" He called after the man who ambled away, a smile on his lips and a grim purpose on his shoulders.

"Cloud still needs me and I'm not the type to leave someone hanging like that." Shrugging away the reasonable purpose in entering the Lifestream, Zack Fair was never likely to give up his duty. Especially not when it involved those who had depended so much on him.

Angeal smiled. "Honor's a heavy purpose but one gladly carried until the end and beyond."

(BREAK)

In the end, he followed the wandering soul as he trailed after his friend. He watched in compassionate silence when Zack bore witness to his friend's transformation from wounded child to driven warrior, scarred by knowledge. The descent into darkness had begun, the Soldier laid a soothing arm around his apprentice and tried to bring him home.

Shrugging him off, Zack Fair turned to face him with anger and bitterness. "Unlike Genesis and Sephiroth, Cloud will come back from this stronger then any of us could ever be. He's just like that."

"If you choose to believe in him, then I shall support that decision." He would be there to offer comfort, as he could not before and prove himself worthy of being the younger… Zack had grown to be the same age he was when he went to the Lifestream… He was no longer the younger man or really a student anymore. Zack Fair had become a warrior capable of pulling his own weight.

"I guess, the puppy has grown up.," he concluded at last.

Zack gave him a wide grin. "Not to mention I've taught the wolf to bite back. Seriously, between my memories and Sephiroth's genes, Spike's gonna kick some Shin-Ra ass."

Just as his words said then, Cloud kept the promise between them. He clawed out of the darkness Sephiroth had driven into his soul. Needless the words were when Angeal found his old friend in the midst of the Lifestream. Guiding the force behind Cloud's blade stood two.

A warrior he had trained and molded into this and a girl who defined love through action. They loved and sacrificed for the one who carried the world on his shoulders. It was hard, Angeal realized, knowing what you left behind struggled with a heavy weight all their own. When they met each other again, Angeal was asked a question by his former student.

"Hey, Angeal, do you remember what dreams and honor taste like?"


End file.
